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Rating

8Overall

9
Applicability

8
Innovation

7
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Recommendation

You can achieve better brand recognition and sales if you understand how the mind works. Jack Trout (assisted by Steve Rifkin) emphasizes that the human mind is limited, hates confusion and easily loses focus. The authors cite companies that have succeeded in their brand strategy and advertising by following these principles, and a few who failed because they didn’t. The book concludes with "tricks of the trade" that you can use. In keeping with these principles, the volume is simply and clearly written, brief, well organized and focused. However, since it was published about four years ago and talks about the beginning of the information age, some of the material already may sound familiar. But if you can ignore that sense of déjà vu, the book offers an excellent summary of the relationship between how the mind works and how best to use product positioning. getabstract.com recommends this book to marketing mavens with inquiring minds.

In this summary, you will learn

Why consumers respond most favorably to a simple, focused message;

Why positioning a product is not about what you do to it, but rather what you do to people’s minds; and

How brand extension can cause more harm than good.

About the Authors

Jack Trout is the author of five best-selling books, including Bottom-Up Marketing, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind and Marketing Warfare. He is the president of Trout & Partners Ltd., in Greenwich, Connecticut, a marketing strategy firm that has consulted for leading corporations such as AT&T, Merck, IBM, SouthWest Airlines, and Warner-Lambert. Steve Rivkin worked with Jack Trout for 15 years and then founded his own communications consulting firm, Rivkin & Associates.

Summary

The Working Mind You need to understand how the human mind works to position your brand effectively, since positioning is not based on "what you do to the product," but on "what you do to the mind." The way you present your product shapes the way people perceive and...